Swedish action star and filmmaker Dolph Lundgren is making headlines again after releasing his new memoir, an autobiography titled Fights Worth Fighting: Finding Strength in Struggle (BUY IT HERE). Published by Harper Horizon on September 22, and co-written by Robert Greenfield, the book details Lundgren’s strict upbringing in Sweden, processing fear, how martial arts became an early coping mechanism, and more. In the book, Lundgren takes us behind the scenes of a notorious red-carpet moment with his Universal Soldier co-star, Jean-Claude Van Damme, when the duo staged a fight to thrill event attendees.
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“While Universal Soldier didn’t open until July 1992, Van Damme and I appeared at the Cannes Film Festival that May. Because the movie was still being edited, it couldn’t be shown at the festival, but we went there to publicize it all the same,” Lundgren recalls in his new book. “Before we went out to meet the press together on the famous red carpet, Van Damme said, “Let’s do a fake fight.” We were both standing there in formal wear, black tuxedos with black bow ties, and I was towering over him.
It began with us talking, and then it became a disagreement, and he put both of his hands on my chest. I shoved him backward with one hand, and the bodyguards rushed in to stop us. When someone asked Van Damme why he had staged this, he said, ‘Because I’m a businessman.’ The publicity our fake fight generated for the movie was so huge that the worldwide gross for Universal Soldier wound up being $120 million.”
Do you remember the fake fight between Lundgren and Van Damme? When’s the last time you watched Universal Soldier? What’s your favorite movie starring Dolph Lundgren? Let us know in the comments section below.
Dolph Gets a Documentary
In addition to his new novel, Dolph has a new documentary coming titled Dolph: Unbreakable. Premiering October 16, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET on Super Channel Fuse and available On Demand the same day, Dolph: Unbreakable takes viewers inside the life and career of Dolph Lundgren, revealing the man behind decades of global stardom and the personal challenges he faced along the way. The upcoming release also features interviews with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Jean-Claude Van Damme, and more.
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